


Too Little, Too Latte

by frostedgoddess



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Anxious Carlos, Canon Compliant, Coffee Shops, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protective Jay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 01:54:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5690113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostedgoddess/pseuds/frostedgoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos gets stressed about his empty school record and his future, causing tension between him and Jay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Little, Too Latte

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to my friend Grace. She is a perfect 5/7 and also the beta for this dumb story that I wrote while on a trip to Italy, it was infuriating, because this is my longest fic yet and it just took forever to write. There are a few OMCs here, which I have detailed in my notes at the end so look there if you get confused about unfamiliar characters or terms. Also I completely stole the name Mrs Pott's Tea House from Skypan. Sorry sweetie, I hope it's okay!

“Have you seen Carlos recently?” Mal asked, sliding into her seat next to Jay, opposite Evie.  
“Barely, he comes to bed later than me and he’s gone before I wake up.” Jay said, releasing some of the worry he’d been feeling about his best friend.  
“That boy is going to run himself ragged.” Evie chipped in, “Straight As with a full timetable, no free periods, maximum extra credit, tourney games and training, dance troupe and his part time job at the library to pay for stuff. He hasn’t had lunch with us in almost a month. Jay, you got to try and talk some sense into him.”

Jay blinked at that, leaning back in surprise. “Me? Why me? What would I even say?” Jay was more of an action man, words weren’t his strong suit.  
“Tell him you’re worried he’s not taking care of himself, and that he needs a break.” Mal said.  
“Where do I find him? I’ll go talk to him now.” Jay said, suitably amped up and eager to see Carlos in a context other than passing in the hallway for the first time in a week.

Evie checked her watch, “It’s 1:20, he’ll be doing his homework, probably in Mrs Potts’ Tea House.”  
“How could you possibly know that?” Mal asked as Jay packed up his things to go.  
“He is literally always holding a takeaway cup from there; his blood is probably fifty percent caffeine at this point.”

Jay jogged away, wanting to make it to the tea house before Carlos left. He was the only one of his friends who hadn’t gotten a job yet. Evie did dresses on commission, Mal did small magic like repairing broken electronics and fixing water-damaged homework, Carlos worked in the library. Jay struggled with honest work, he’d given up thievery and just didn’t do anything that required him to pay for it, he knew his friends would all loan him money if he needed it, but he still had some of his pride.

He got to the chain coffee shop and came inside to see Carlos surrounded by comically large piles of text books and notepads.  
“Carlos?” Jay asked with a slight smile as he slid in across the booth.  
“Hi Jay.” Carlos’ expression lit up, and he looked genuinely pleased to see him. “Look, man I’m super busy though, can I see you later?”  
“Carlos, actually, that’s why I’m here, the rest of the VKs and I are all concerned that you’re pushing yourself too hard, you’re not getting enough sleep and you’re not eating properly. I haven’t seen you in weeks aside from tourney games.”  
“Well, um, thanks for the concern. I guess. But I’m not going to let go of any of the opportunities that this new school had given me, Jay.”  
“Come on Carlos, I miss my best friend, you can’t keep this up.”  
“For once Jay, it’s not about you. This is what I want to do.”  
“Carlos, that was just uncalled for!” Jay realised distantly that the volume was climbing as they argued.  
“Not everyone is content as you to just coast through life, Jay. You just want me to stop because you don’t understand the concept of putting in hard work for what you want. You can’t _steal_ a good school record like you steal everything else.” Venom dripped from every single word.

That was too far, Carlos just realised it a little too late. His brown eyes widened and he clapped a hand over his mouth as it dropped open. Jay stumbled back as if Carlos had physically pushed him, pain lanced through him.

“Jay! I’m so, so sorry.” Carlos gasped, eyes wet, hand reaching out for Jay. “Oh my god.”

Jay was utterly speechless. He’d come home a few weeks after the coronation, shaking as he took out trinkets from the folds of his clothes he had stolen from people before even realising what he’d done. He couldn’t help it. He wanted so badly to be good, to choose a new path, but his hands had been trained to take and take and take and it was hard to tame them otherwise. Laptops, cell phones, CDs, a camera. Carlos had seen them, taken the stolen goods from Jay to get them out of his sight and held him tight. _Every day, every minute you can start over, you can change._ Carlos had taken the load to lost property and done it twice more when Jay reverted momentarily. _That’s not you anymore._ _It’s hard for us all to adapt._ He’d been the only one who Jay had trusted with his horrible addiction.

Jay’s dark eyes were fixed on Carlos, reeling as though he’d been doused with icy water. Carlos had always been on his side, when he got in trouble for missing homework, when he got carded for not following the tourney rules, and yes, when he stole. Jay didn’t ever have much of a chance to be on Carlos’ side because he was so non-confrontational. The one time Jay tries to help him and Carlos just turned on him.

Unfortunately, Jay was still backing away from Carlos, his eyes still fixed on him. With a crash, he backed into a shelf. A shelf that had scores of stacked porcelain teacups and teapots. Jay spun around, helplessly watching as they fell off the shelves, hitting the hardwood floors one by one, and sending out waves of splintered pottery as they all broke irreparably.

“Hey! What’s the big idea you moron?” Chip’s son, a usually sweet blond kid with a gap-toothed grin, charged angrily towards Jay. “You break it, you buy it!”

Jay stood his ground, not wanting to back into anything else. “I literally have no money. I’m so sorry, is there anything else I can do to make up for the damage?”

This stopped the ex-teacup’s son in his tracks as he saw who he was talking to, “Get an apron on, I guess you’ll have to work it off.” He sighed, “I really can’t just let you off.”  
“Thank you Spike. I really didn’t mean to. I’ll make it right.” Jay said, though he knew that amongst those teacups and pots were hours and hours of work. Turning his back on Carlos, without making eye contact, he accepted the black apron, and went behind the counter for a crash course in the barista machine.

Working the machine was easy, and no one could churn out ridiculous coffee orders as fast as Jay. With lightning reflexes and a charming grin, Jay was a perfect barista. In all his free time, he’d show up to the tea house and churn out caffeinated drinks until he knew he could make _a large cinnamon and quarter-soy mocha cappuccino_ in his sleep. He even kept the tips, so even though he was working off a debt, he still got a fair amount of money for his work. The first surprise came, when after a week, Spike came up to Jay at the end on the lunch time rush with a slip of paper.

“Pay day!”  
“Dude no, just take it and put it towards paying for all the…everything I broke. Cut out the middle man.”  
“I deducted the cost from your pay check.”

Jay looked down at the cheque. “Fifteen dollars? No way all those cups and stuff cost fifteen bucks.”  
“They didn’t.” Spike said grinning, the gap in his front teeth clear, unpacking a box full of elegant tea cups. “I told Mal what happened and she gave me a discount on repairing everything, you earned that money Jay. I thought you might still want the job though, you look like you’re having fun and I’ve never had so few complaints about a new barista before.”

Jay looked down at the payment, Mal maybe could fix a shop full of crockery, but Carlos and he were still in pieces. Without any time for talking things through, apologies and reconciliation, they hadn’t really worked it through. Jay’s new job kept him occupied and Carlos was a busy as ever, but Jay missed Carlos like a limb.

“Hi.”  
Jay looked up, shoving the piece of paper in his pocket. Carlos stood across from him, tragically on cue. Jay felt the tightness in his throat ease a little at just the sight of him, even though he looked jittery and the bags under his eyes made it look as though he had lost a fight. Badly.   
“Hello, welcome to Mrs Potts’ Tea House, what can I get for you today?” Jay welcomed politely, but apparently that had been the utterly wrong thing to say, because as soon as Carlos heard the official line he slumped in on himself.

“Large cappuccino, three extra shots, caramel drizzle.”  
“Do you know that the large cap already has two shots of coffee?” Jay asked, concerned.  
“Yes.” Carlos snapped. “Put it under Carlos.” He then flounced off to sit in the corner.

Jay looked down at the paper cup and wrote out his friend’s name and order. Then he made the over-caffeinated beverage, but instead of calling out Carlos’ name, he took the drink over to where Carlos was sitting. He went to put the drink down and suddenly cool, pale fingers closed around his wrist.

“Jay, please.” Carlos’ voice was thick and tired. “Please…Jay I’m really sorry, I never meant to say any of the things that I did. Jay, you’re a good person and a good friend and I was just plain cruel to you. I won’t ask for forgiveness, I won’t insult you like that. But none of it was true.”  
Jay rolled his eyes. “Carlos, I forgot that as soon as it happened, there is nothing to forgive, you’re pushing yourself so hard, the tension had to get released somehow. Please consider giving yourself a break?”  
Carlos shrank back. “Jay. I’m sorry – I just…”  
“You can’t. Right. Got it. I’ll see you around then.”  
“Wait, Jay.” Carlos called, “I don’t want you to be mad.”  
“Carlos, no. I’m not mad at you buddy, I’m worried, of course I miss spending time with you but you are my priority.”

Carlos smiled slowly, realisation dawning in his eyes. “Jay, would you be less concerned about me if I thought about maybe clearing up my schedule a bit?”  
Jay brightened, “Carlos, that would make me feel so much better, I just want to make sure there’s enough time for you to rest and relax, maybe hang out with me, but I don’t want you to feel obliged. Just look after yourself.”  
Carlos finished his coffee with a smile.

Jay finished up his homework with a flourish and looked over at Carlos who had been scribbling furiously in several books for the last few hours.

“Hey Carlos, you almost done? We can play video games or something if you aren’t too busy.”  
Carlos slammed his book shut. “All done, thanks to you Jay.” Carlos said brightly coming over to sit cross legged on Jay’s bed.  
“Me? I didn’t do anything.”  
“Jay, because you were worried about me I’ve decided to drop dance troupe, now I have some more spare time to spend with the best friend a guy could ask for.”  
“Carlos! You loved dance troupe, I’m so sorry. But you’re doing the right thing. God I couldn’t stand to see my best friend like that. When I saw you at all!”

They played video games until late. A game called _The Last Stand 2_ , based on villains that the two boys had actually grown up amongst escaping their island prison. The graphics were great but each villain was monstrously grotesque.

“These Auradonians think all villains are monsters. Most of them are people who they wouldn’t look at twice on the street.”  
“Look at Dr Facilier’s _face_.” The gap teeth and the thin, slimy moustache were just too much and Jay burst out laughing. “One more level?”

“Uh…actually Jay, I have to get up early to do drills with Ben, for tourney. Can we go to bed?”  
“Of course. The whole point of this was for you to take better care of yourself. Let’s get some rest.”

Jay watched the arc of Carlos’ back, hypnotised by the barely visible point of each vertebrae as he swapped out his black shirt for a blue t-shirt to sleep in. He turned around and busied himself with changing when Carlos moved to peer over his shoulder at Jay. Jay could feel his stomach twist at the knowledge that Carlos could see his sharply defined back muscles, even if the tanned skin didn’t affect Carlos nearly as much as Carlos’ slender back affected Jay. Jafar’s son fell asleep imagining Carlos feeling the same way he did over something so insignificant.

When Jay got up around seven, Carlos was already gone. Jay got dressed quickly, missing the rhythmic sound of Carlos getting dressed. It was just like every morning for the past month or so, Carlos long gone by the time Jay was ready to face his day. Jay was going to put in an hour at the Tea House because the tips at the morning rush were incredible as caffeine-addicted royalty got their first buzz of the day.

The first strange incident of the day was the distinctive lack of Carlos. In the time between the three VKs choosing goodness over evil and the last month, Carlos had really gotten into coffee. He tried lattes, espresso, Americano, frappes before landing on cappuccinos. And with the intervening weeks where he’d barely seen Carlos, the details about his beverages of choice had been forgotten. But it was hard to ignore the dozens of Mrs Potts’ Tea House Cups with the unmistakeable green ringed logo of an elegant teapot, piled in their bin every day. Jay was in the coffee shop all morning from when he got up to until class started and he didn’t see hide nor hair of his friend. It was odd because, Carlos would have gone straight to tourney drills and then gone straight for his coffee. Jay had even made the ridiculous thing, with only one extra shot of coffee. Carlos never came to get it and it went cold behind the counter.

The second weird thing was when Ben showed up, asking for a mocha and looking way too pristine to have just come from tourney practise. But Jay just put that down to Ben running the drills rather than participating and made the hot chocolate and espresso mix quickly.

On the way to his second class of the day, Jay saw the dance troupe clique wandering around in cropped sweatpants and tight neon t-shirts and immediately thought of Carlos. Carlos’ dancing was poetry in motion, every joint seemed to melt away, leaving him fluid and effortless with every perfectly timed move. Carlos was a dancer, he had a dancer’s body and a talent for choreography, it was nothing short of tragic that Carlos had given it up. Even though Jay knew it was for the best he still felt a little sad. That was the motivation behind Jay running to catch up with the dancers.

Naveen and Tiana’s son turned when he heard Jay shout out for them.  
“Hey, guys, I’m…”  
“Jay, Carlos’ biffle, we know.” Nomu said, not unkindly. “What can we do you for?”  
“I’m not really in your circle but I’d really like for you to tell me when your next dance performance is, I’ll want to get some tickets.”

That, clearly hadn’t been what the New Orlean prince had been expecting.  
“Sure Jay, I mean Carlos could just tell you. But there aren’t any upcoming things that we know of just yet, but you’ll be the first to know, I'll JMNI you when we get a gig.”  
“Thank you! I’ll take ‘Los with me. Like a surprise.”

In the face of his proclamation, Jay was just hit with several blank expressions, confusion and suspicion. “What do you mean?”

“Well, thanks anyways, talk later.” Jay said, eager to escape the dancers, and their staring, which was starting to get him. “I’ll keep my JMNI on…actually it’s been flat for days, but I’ll charge it and then keep it on!”

With that, Jay bolted. He was late to his second period Maths lesson anyway.

Come to think of it, that was the third strange event of the day. Jay never joined any dots, he didn’t think that he needed to.

The next two weeks passed and Jay was lulled into a sense of security at the rhythmic routine. He woke up to Carlos, sometimes to an empty room. He trained, and played tourney with Carlos, and worked as a barista. Sometimes there were days where odd things happened, like Carlos saying he was with his study group and then Jay seeing the other members alone on the quad later. Or when he tried to bring Carlos breakfast for his extra tourney practise but the field was empty. But the strange happenings were few and far between and could easily be explained.  
_I was grabbing coffee for the group._  
_We used the gymnasium because I was cold._  
The concept of deception was just so far from Jay’s mind that it didn’t occur to him.

It was Saturday and the school was near empty, Mal was meeting up with Ben and his parents and Evie was knee deep in dress orders.

“Hey ‘Los!” Jay greeted his friend at lunch, startled by the dark under-eye circles.  
_Well,_ he reasoned, _it’ll take a while before the effects of a month of overstressing and insomnia would be countered._

“Hello Jay,” Carlos greeted with a smile, Jay resisted the urge to rub his thumbs over the blueish skin under his eyes, to see if the exhaustion would smudge away and leave behind the bright, energetic genius that had come with Jay from the Isle with a plan to rule the world.

Carlos took a sip from his massive coffee cup; Jay’s eyes were immediately drawn to the unfamiliar logo of a coffee cup splashing out a crown. Royal Coffee.  
“Change of coffee shop?”  
“Oh…it was just closer to where I was with my study group and they were all going.”  
“How many shots of coffee?” Jay asked, eyes narrowing a smidgen.

Carlos seemed to notice that he was under scrutiny and drew his bottom lip between his teeth.  
“Only the two, that it already comes with. I didn’t get any more extra shots.”  
“Good,” Jay gave into one of his urges and reached across the lunch table to card his fingers through Carlos’ white-grey tips. “I’m glad you’re looking after yourself properly.”

Carlos beamed, “It’s all you Jay, you’re the one looking after me, you’re a great friend, and a great guy.”

Jay was so busy preening and pretending to brush off the compliment that he didn’t notice the way that Carlos looked down at his lap with a flicker of guilt or the way he held his coffee cup in front of his mouth, so no one could see the teeth marks in his full lower lip.

Carlos came in to the coffee shop during Jay’s afternoon shift and asked for the new usual, large cap, no extra shots with caramel syrup. Jay made it cheerily, drawing a tiny puppy in marker instead of writing Carlos’ name. But then Doc’s kid had to show up and talk to Carlos, just as Jay was about to hand him the drink.

“Back in a coffee shop already? Wasn’t the six-shot cap from study group enough for one day?” Richard meant it lightly but Jay froze. _How_ many shots?  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Richard. I didn’t…” Carlos stammered out, snatching the coffee out of Jay’s hand and backing away.  
Richard seemed to realise he did something wrong, “Sorry, must be confused.”

Carlos ran away, and since there was no one to cover for him, Jay just had to watch him leave.

Carlos was lying about something; Jay just couldn’t see it. The idea of Carlos lying was just so alien, they told each other _everything_ , and before they were even friends, when Jay had practically been a bully, Carlos had still been pleasant to him. Carlos lying to his face? Jay wouldn’t have considered it except for how guilty Carlos had looked after Richard had unintentionally accused him.

Was Carlos having trouble sleeping? Was he just really addicted to coffee? Whatever it was, Jay knew it had to be _bad_ for Carlos to not only hide it, but actually lie. It was the feeling of heart-shattering betrayal that filled Jay, making his hands shake. It was that emotion that meant Jay didn’t reach the right conclusion, despite the fact that it was dangling right in front of his face.

Carlos came back to the room after Jay fell asleep and left before he woke up, the only indicators that he had returned at all being new clothes in the laundry hamper and messy, frigid sheets.

Jay got up, got dressed, got breakfast. He felt oddly empty; he didn’t have enough energy to be mad at Carlos for lying to him about something unknown. He was five minutes late in opening up the Tea House and a small queue of disgruntled royals had formed at the doors. Jay unlocked them and set about making the coffee orders as quickly as possible to make up for the delay. Eventually the morning rush died and Carlos hadn’t shown up. Great, so Jay was definitely being avoided. By Carlos. When Jay hadn’t even done anything wrong. At least he didn’t think he had…

As Jay was busy analysing every moment of interaction between Carlos and him over the past two weeks, the Auradon Prep dance troupe entered, looking flustered and frazzled.

“Jay!” Nomu all but yelled, startling Jay out of his reverie.  
“Oh, welcome to Mrs Potts’ Tea Ho-”  
“No time for all of that, Jay, where is Carlos?” Nomu’s voice was thick with his New Orleans accent.  
“Haven’t seen him since yesterday. Why do you need him?”  
“We got a wildcard entry to the interschool’s dance off! It starts in like an hour!”  
That helped nothing. “And you need him…because?”  
Nomu stared at Jay as if he was a complete moron, which Jay did not appreciate. “Because he has a solo? We changed the rehearsal times to ass o clock in the morning for him. The least he can do is be contactable.”  
“Didn’t he quit?” Jay was asking at this point.  
“When?” The prince’s voice cracked as it rose several octaves. “Today?”  
“No, like two weeks ago.” Jay could better see the bigger picture now, but he needed to be sure.  
“He came to practise yesterday morning.”

That was it. Carlos hadn’t quit dance troupe. He hadn’t quit anything. He’d just made extra time to spend with Jay and hidden his rehearsal sessions in the wee hours when Jay was always asleep. Why? So Jay wouldn’t bug him about pushing himself too hard? Had Jay been so bad that Carlos had decided that his best bet was to straight-up lie to him?

Somewhere distantly, Jay could hear his own voice saying he didn’t know where Carlos was. Jay left the coffee shop as the next shift entered the door, not taking off his apron or saying a word. The dance troupe left to go search for Carlos but Jay went the other way. Jay had an idea of where Carlos might be.

Jay went straight to the nearby library where Carlos worked, stormed behind the ‘Staff Only’ sign into the breakroom. Carlos was there, passed out over his laptop where a half-finished essay sat.

“Hey.” Jay’s voice was tight and clipped as he shook Carlos’ shoulder. “Carlos, wake up.”    
“Jay? What are you doing here? What time is it?”  
“Carlos, your _dance troupe_ is looking for you.” Jay bit out scathingly. “You have forty-five minutes to get to the showcase.” Jay spun around, every fibre of his being vibrating with anger. Anger at being lied to, anger at having lost himself so much that he didn’t immediately suspect lying, and furious beyond belief about how hurt he was by such a simple non-truth.

“Jay, wait, please, don’t – don’t leave. I’m sorry; I just couldn’t give up anything. Please.” As Carlos’ voice dissolved into begging and sobbing, Jay finally understood something.

“Carlos, come here.” Jay said, but it was the taller boy who leaned forward to wrap his arms around Carlos and pull him tight against his chest. “Give up something. Give up me. God, I just wanted to spend time with you but it’s making everything worse, Carlos, you’re going to hurt yourself.” Carlos curled against Jay’s chest, still sobbing. Jay felt like a monster, he not only took up valuable seconds of Carlos’ time, but he made his greatest friend in the world feel bad, feel isolated from him, like he had to lie to keep Jay near him.

“Don’t wanna – ” Carlos mumbled, calming somewhat.  
“You don’t want to go to the concert?”  
“Give up on you, _Jay_ ; you’re the best part of my day. I just want to do well.”  
“Carlos, you’re a genius; no one is contesting the fact that you can succeed at everything you attempt, undoubtedly all at once. You’ll be able to do whatever you want with your life, even if you never do another school activity from now until we all graduate. You don’t need to do any extra credit, your grades are flawless and now you’re just as good as any team member, you don’t need any extra tourney drills with Ben.” Jay suggested lightly, before coming back to himself and realising that suggestions was really not what Carlos needed right now. “But that’s not a thing right now. Don’t even think about it. Let’s get you back to the room, you need a proper sleep.”

“Jay! The performance!”  
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to dance in this state.”  
“I have to, I’m the soloist, then I’ll sleep I swear, please Jay? They’ll never forgive me!”  
“You don’t have to ask me, Carlos. I’m going to support you no matter what, but since you seem set on competing, I’ll come watch and then make sure you get back to the room safely and then you can sleep.”

Carlos stood up blearily, and then took a deep breath, steeling himself to walking outside. Jay followed a few seconds behind, having collected all of Carlos’ things as he followed him to the dance hall. Every hundred metres or so, Carlos would turn around, as if to reassure himself that Jay was still there.

“I’m right behind you buddy. Don’t worry.” Jay was worrying enough for both of them. He didn’t want to get all weird and overstep their boundaries by demanding Carlos go home, or forbidding him from dancing. But it was a near thing. Carlos had been exhausted after keeping up with all his extra-curricular activities for a month, then for two weeks he’d had to add in spending time with Jay and he looked ready to fall asleep at any given moment. But Jay was only a friend, and even if he was something _more_ , no one could _order_ Carlos to do something he didn’t want. They barely made the beginning of the concert.

Watching the dance troupe tell Carlos off for vanishing was painful but Jay stood back as they swiped foundation onto his skin and wrapped him in neon for their dance. Jay didn’t have a ticket or a seat, so he left the dressing room and leant against the wall near the seats. The first troupe was from Griffin Academy and each dancer was entirely uniform, moving perfectly in sync. It was impressive and their discipline was admirable but their motions lacked any passion and the fake smiles were honestly pretty creepy.

Next were the Auradon Prep dancers, arms and legs moving to the beat of the song that thrummed like a heartbeat underneath the melody. The song was slower than the last performance, yet they seemed to move faster.  Jay had never seen Carlos perform as part of a group and it was something to behold. Even though his jaw was set grimly, rather than the preppy smiles of the other dancers, he stood out a mile before his solo even began. At the beginning of the second chorus, Carlos began to almost vibrate, a thrill of fear went through Jay before he realised that _this_ was the solo and the rest of the dancers moved out of Carlos’ path as he began a series of flips and somersaults, acting as though his body was moving without permission, startled and edgy. It was beautiful. Jay thought it would be more beautiful if he could see Carlos’ freckles but really, that was more of a personal preference. Carlos giving this up was crazy, he was born to it, and then he had worked his ass off to hone his natural talent into an expertise, bringing some of his own flair that grew up on the Isle, surrounded by true evil. Sharp, jolting, eye catching. There was something unique, strong, and dangerous about it that nothing else in this pristine country could even come close to. Something that was special to Carlos alone.

While Jay had been waxing poetic internally about Carlos’ freckles and backstory, the dance had ended in a standing ovation. As the five dancers took a bow, Jay could see Carlos’ eyes flicker to every corner of the auditorium, looking for him probably. But Carlos didn’t see him; Jay would just have to wait for the next two dance groups to perform. After that, they would hopefully announce the winners quickly and Jay could take Carlos home. He felt partially responsible for his friend’s state, for pushing him and making him feel like he was out of options. Also, Jay usually felt responsible for Carlos, guilty when he was sad and proud when he succeeded, but that was probably something that fell under the category of ‘Only Think About Between 2 And 1am Because You Don’t Want To Know How Deep That Rabbit Hole Goes.’

The next dance group sucked. Maybe that was a little unfair, but following Carlos’ performance it was more than true. The last performance seemed to drag on forever until Jay couldn’t care less how flawless their technique was. It was just that annoying. But just as Jay was starting to consider getting his phone out of his pocket to pass the time, it ended. An annoying bell sound rang out and an electronic voice announced a ten minute break before the awards were going to be read out.

“Jay!” An unfamiliar voice hissed at him, head poking around the door to backstage. “Come!”

One of the dancers from Carlos’ group grabbed Jay’s hand and dragged him to the dressing rooms. “Carlos fainted. He was standing there with us just a minute ago then his eyes rolled back into his head and he just hit the floor.”

Jay elbowed dancers aside on his way to Carlos.

“You idiot!” He said to the unconscious boy, but there was no venom lacing the words. “I tried to tell you Carlos, but nooo, you couldn’t listen. You know better. ”

“Go away…” Carlos groaned and Jay immediately slid one hand under Carlos’ shoulder. The dancers just hung around, chattering uselessly.

“Come on, let’s get you to the room, sleeping in your bed will be way more comfy than on the floor.”  
Carlos’ hand reached up to fist in Jay’s apron, eyes shut. “Don’t tell Jay?” He murmured softly before going limp again.  Damn it.

Jay picked Carlos up with only minimal difficulty. He moved quickly out of the dance hall and went straight across the Quad, headed straight for his dorm room.

Jay put Carlos down in his bed, tucking the blankets around him to keep him warm. It was almost lunch time but Jay knew that Carlos needed sleep over food and he sat on his own bed and tried to get through some maths. Two hours later, Carlos began to stir.

“Jay?” He croaked out pathetically and Jay went straight to his side, bringing a bottle of water.  
“You can be so dumb sometimes, Carlos, why didn’t you listen to me? Or at least not lie to me?”  
Carlos coughed and took the water gratefully. “Jay, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to do. I don’t even know why what I do is so important to you. I’m going to get a good school record. Did you know that here, there’s more school after you graduate? Your marks determine what you’re allowed to study.”

But Jay’s mind had snagged on a single comment. “Why? You don’t know why you’re so important?” Jay made a sound of disgust.  
“Jay, I’m old enough to make my own choices, you don’t need to worry about me.”  
“Clearly I do, since you’re acting like a child.”  
“How dare you? I’m doing the adult thing and thinking about my future. Do you have any plans for the future?”  
“I know I want you in it!” Jay yelled, Carlos gasped but it was too late, the floodgates were open. Jay was furious. “And I know it won’t have any Carlos in it if you kill yourself in the pursuit of looking like you have your life together!”

And wasn’t that how it always went? Jay was cool, calm, laid back until the last straw when he would snap and then there was no escaping the flood of fury until the angry was all dried up.

“For someone who is a genius, you’re really stupid sometimes! Selfish moron!” Jay said with a growl, shoving painfully at Carlos’ shoulder. “You’re thinking about some hypothetical future and not yourself now or any of the people who care about you. Mal, Evie, and Ben are worried sick. And me? I passed worried sick when you ordered a drink with five shots of espresso in it! We’re supposed to be best friends, but if I’m just getting in the way of you and your big, bright future then I’m requesting a room change next semester. And don’t expect me to bail you out next time you crash, if you’re self-destructing then I won’t support that or help you get away with lying to everyone who loves you and wants you happy and safe.”

Carlos’ thick eyebrows drew together. “You think about the future?” He said softly, slowly as if he hadn’t considered the idea before. “And I’m in it?”

Jay rolled his eyes. “You were in it. Now I know you won’t be. We won’t even be friends by that point since we never see each other anymore. If you even survive until graduation. Which seems pretty unlikely, considering how thick and stubborn you are.”

“Jay…” Jay knew that tone; his name in that tone was followed by a string of logic that baffled him until he just blindly agreed with whatever Carlos told him.  
“No. I don’t want to hear it.” Jay stood up to leave and felt Carlos latch onto his arm with his entire weight.

“Please! Jay!” Carlos’ voice raised an octave or two as he pleaded with Jay not to leave.  
“What?” Jay snapped, eyes flashing, teeth barred. Wind the clock back twenty years and Jafar would have made that exact face at Aladdin. It was anger, the promise of being chased down with his dying breath.

“I’ve said it so many times that it’s probably lost all meaning, but I’m sorry, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you the first time.” Carlos said, miraculously unafraid. “If I could go back, I would have quit my job and not picked up the extra chemistry units, maybe dropped some classes. I never meant for it to get this bad. But you’re right Jay. There should be more to my future than a clean list of 100% and admirable extra activities. I want you in my future too. I want you, Jay.”

Even though it was just an admittance of Carlos returning what Jay said just moments ago, both of them fell silent, knowing that it meant more than anything that had happened between them so far.

Carlos was pulling and Jay was diving and they ended up lip-locked, lying sideways on Carlos’ bed. Jay’s lips were soft and wet, Carlos’ were dry and chapped but heat sparked between them. They could have had this. This beautiful, fragile thing instead of arguing.

After a decent amount of time spent on what was a first kiss for the ages, the two boys drew apart at the same moment, as if under a silent agreement. But they didn’t go far from each other.

“How long?”   
“Months. You?”   
“Months.”

But it felt like longer, like this feeling had each been lurking under their skin from before they met, only blossoming after they escaped the stifling confines of their parents’ realm.

“Why do you even work at that library?” Jay said conversationally.

They had spent a long time kissing, their hair was messy and their skin was flushed.  
“I need to pay for coffee.”

“Sweetheart, I’m sure we’ll be able to work out a deal.”  
“Coffee for kisses?”  
“If you want, I’m always going to be your best friend. I got your back.”  
“Best friend?” Carlos said slowly, looking astoundingly disappointed for someone who had just been kissed to within an inch of his life. By Jay, who had never gotten any complaints before.  
“Well yeah, I don’t want to make any presumptions. Maybe something more, that’s entirely up to you.”  
“Up to me?” Carlos said haltingly, unsure. “What about what you want?”  
“I just want you.” Jay said, knowing it would make Carlos blush but shrugging as if it were no big deal. “However you’ll have me.”  
“I think – maybe, boyfriends?”  
“Sounds like a plan. Now, I want you to eat and then more sleep, you need to catch up.” When Carlos looked like he was about to argue Jay shut him up with a gentle kiss. “No arguing. You passed out so now you have to listen to me. Or I’ll withhold kisses until you see sense. You’re a smart boy, you know that you need sleep. Now, soup or sandwiches.”  
“Can I sleep in your bed with you?”  
“Fine, but you have to pick.”  
“Soup.”  
“Thought you might pick that, I already ordered.”

**Author's Note:**

> Spike - Son of Chip (teacup from Beauty and The Beast)
> 
> Nomu - Son of the characters from Princess and the Frog, his dad's musical talent translated to a love of dance (The name is from Malta as the name of Naveen's country was Maltadonia a mix of Macedonia and Malta)
> 
> Richard - Doc's Son from Snow White (Doc -> Dic -> Dick -> Richard)
> 
> JMNI - Journal for Missions, Navigation, and Intelligence. From the app, basically a smart phone.
> 
> Please comment/kudos if you have time!


End file.
